SMAD. An Organ of Student Opinion. 1937. Volume 8. Number 14.
"The Spike"
"The Spike"
Early next term the College Magazine, "The Spike" will be published, which is an event of no little importance in the College year. Most people appreciate the significance and merit of this publication and to those who are not familiar with it, the perusal of its pages will be an undoubted pleasure in store.
The University, as a community of comparatively youthful intellects eagerly and keenly searching after truth and knowledge, is usually characterised by stimulating and original thought. In "The Spike" you will find the results of discussion and contemplation crystallized in writing that attains as high a standard in literature as in intellect. This is, perhaps, the outstanding and most important feature of any College annual—to preserve in a suitably attractive and permanent form the worth-while opinions of what should be the most advanced centre of study and scholarship in the broadest sense.
At the same time, "The Spike" is definitely a literary production and in the past a very high standard has been set. Good writing is sterile unless it clothes suitably elevated ideas, and this combination—the basis of literature proper—is the aim of "The Spike." To what extent this object will be achieved in the 1937 issue is not known at the moment, but we have no reason to believe that it will be anything but equal to its predecessors. In fact, judging by the particularly high standard of most of the verse which has been submitted to "Smad" this year, we should have no hesitation in prophesying that the standard of its poetry at least will be considerably higher.
It seems a pity that the Literary Club which usually sponsors "The Spike" is no longer active, and it is to be hoped that our literary talent has only transferred its enthusiasm from discursive conversational meanderings to the more tangible though somewhat more arduous business of writing.
With the rise of the Photographic Club, a new field of artistic expression has been opened to students and further attraction incorporated in "The Spike." Stimulated by competition, the standard of camera studies which have appeared during the last two years has been very high from an artistic point of view and with the Club in its present flourishing position this year's contributions promise to add to the credit of that Club.
Apart altogether from this, the cultural side of "The Spike," there is the record of the year in sport. It is interesting to review past events in after years, be they successful or otherwise, and the form in which sports summaries are compiled here is such as to make entertaining reading and refresh failing memories.
"The Spike" is your magazine of high cultural value and at the same time entertaining. There is not the slightest reàson to justify your not wanting to possess a copy to cherish in future years. The argument that it is a duty should not be necessary to induce you to purchase. It will be out early next term, so get in for your copy early and remember, all profits from its sale go to the Building Fund.